Toll collection hopper



July 28, 1959 G. GRANT ETAL 2,896,751

TOLL COLLECTION HOPPER Filed Dec. 7, 1956 flzueizfari Gardazez I. Gra'mfi .E'z'ear I Care jjfvMjQud hfiu/ I TOLL COLLECTION HOPPER Gardner L. Grant, Providence, and Richard L. Care, Rumford, KL, assignors, by direct and mesne assignments, to Grant Development Company, Providence, RI, a corporation of Rhode Island Application December 7,1956, Serial No. 626,912

' 1 Claim. (c1. 193-.-z'

This invention relates to.hDPPersforreceiving coins, tokens, tickets, and the likefor .deposit and conveyance to avault orfare-registering machine.

The principalobjectsare to rovide a hopper' especially suitable for receiving fares attoll stations along high-.

ways, at bridges, tunnels, and so forth, which will make it possible to deposit the. fare without danger 'of spilling, to provide a hopper devoid of any glaring surface which would tend to dazzle or confuse the eyes, to provide a hopper which will visually stimulate proper deposit of the-fare, to provide a hopper which will not only invite deposit butwill not injure the hand or arm ofthe motorist who carelessly overre aches or drives by the hop per at too fast a rate, to provide a'ho'pper which will funnel'the fare even though it istossed forcibly into it without rebound and loss over its forward or rear edges, and to provide a hopper which is durable and light in weight.

As herein illustrated, the hopper has a transversely elongate, substantially rectangular open mouth and downwardly converging front, rear and side Walls terminating in an open rectangular coin exit slot at its bottom of such transverse length as .to pass the largest coin to be collected, but so narrow from front to back as to cause the smallest coin to be collected to take up a position parallel to the longitudinal dimension of the slot, the front wall having a substantially flat surface sloping downwardly and rearwardly at a pitch of approximately 45, the rear wall having a forwardly curved surface which is transversely convex from top to bottom and has the crest of its curvature substantially /3 to the way down from the top, that portion of the curved rear wall above its crest sloping downwardly toward the front wall at a greater pitch than the front wall, and that portion below the crest sloping downwardly and rearwardly to the coin exit at substantially the same pitch at the front wall and substantially parallel thereto. Except for their upper marginal edges the inner surfaces of the walls are opaque and non-lustrous, preferably a dull gray black. The marginal edges, however, are treated to contrast sharply with the wall surfaces subjacent thereto and to provide a broad band bounding the top opening so as to form a target attracting accurate deposit of the fare. A luminous yellow band bounding the open mouth is found most effective. Along the upper edge of the front wall there is an upwardly and forwardly extending guard of flexible but non-elastic or resilient material having along its upper edge an inwardly concave lip adapted to trap any coin which may accidentally be drawn upwardly toward the lip by incomplete release, such as by failure of the motorist to straighten his fingers or by presence of moisture on the hands which tends to cause the coins to cling thereto. The guard while flexible enough to insure against injury if struck by the hand or arm and wide enough to keep the hands well above the uper edge of the hopper is not so limp as to fold down upon pressure against it by drawing the hand along it or as to spill coins outwardly of the hopper.

The invention will now be described in greater detail with reference to the accompanying drawings wherein:

Fig. 1 is a top view of the hopper; Fig. 2 is a front elevation; Fig. 3 is a F 'Fig. 4 is a bottom view; and

Fig. 5 is a longitudinal section taken. on the line. 5-5

.Referring, to the drawings, thehopper 10 has an open v mouth constituted by the upper edges of quadrilaterally.

arranged front, back and. end walls 12, 14 and 16 respectively, which slope downwardly and inwardly from the plane of the mouth in converging fashion to an open coin exit: 18, which is also rectangular, having its long dimension lengthwise of the hopper and its short dimension from front .to back. In length thecoin exit 18, is sufficient to pass the largest coin that will be deposited and in front to'backwidth is narrow enough to prevent.

- v The front wall 12 of the hopper has a flat surface which slopes downwardly at an angle of approximately 45", the rear wall 14 has a curved surface which slopes forwardly toward thefront wall at a much steeper pitch to a point approximately half way down where it commences tov slop rearwardly along-a smooth curvethrough: out about the lower. third quarter of its height and finally rearwardly, substantially parallel to the front wall for the lower fourth quarter of its height. This formation provides a forwardly convex surface, the crest of which is well below the lower half of the hopper and provides a striking surface against which a coin dropping into the hopper and landing on edge with its plane in a front to back position will have the very least possible contact with the rear wall so that the possibility of its becoming hung on this surface is minimized. The end walls 16 (Fig. 5) have surfaces which slope at angles greater than the front wall and less than the rear wall and are upwardly convex so that a coin sliding along these surfaces does not lie flat and hence there is little possibility of its clinging to these surfaces. The front, back and end walls merge at the four corners in smooth curved surfaces which have a large enough radius of curvature to prevent any possible wedging of a coin thereinto.

The hopper is made of fiber glass, although any suitable plastic may be substituted therefor, which will provide a rigid hard surface that will not become pitted, marred or dented by the impinging coins. Execept for the marginal edges of the walls near their upper edges their surfaces are muted, that is, of a subdued gray black, non-lustrous in character, so that there is no possibility of glare which might confuse the motorist and cause him to make a misdirected cast of the fare thereinto. The muting may be produced by adding a pigment coloration to the fiber glass prior to molding or 'by applying to its surface after molding a compatible substance of suitable coloration. In the latter case a material is chosen which not only subdues the light reflection but also damps rebound of the coins. To further facilitate proper deposit the surfaces at the marginal edges of the walls bounding the opening are treated so as to be sharply contrasting therewith by painting or otherwise coating with a luminescent yellow material of the preferred color. This takes the form of a broad band 30, as shown in Fig. 1, appliedto the upper edges and upper marginal portion of the wall surfaces.

A guard is provided to protect the motorist from in-' jury due to carelessness on his part in overreaching the hopper or traveling by it too fast and striking his hand or arm on the rigid wall of the hopper. To this end vertical section taken on the line 3-.-3"of V 3 I the front wall at its upper edge is grooved at 20 to receive the loweredge of a guard strip 22, the latter being fastened thereto by a row of spaced rivets, screws or the like 24. The guard strip is comprised of a fairly stiff rubber-like material which is self-supporting and While yieldable enough to avoid injury if forcibly struck by the hand or arm is stifi enough so that bearing upon it will not fold it downwardly so far as, to prevent a coin or coins from spilling over its outer edge. The guard strip has at its upper edge an inwardly convex lip 26 for trapping coins which may inadvertently be withdrawn by failure of the motorist completely to release the coins or by the coins clinging to the hand by reason of moisture or the like. The guard strip projects upwardly above the plane of the open mouth and forwardly beyond the front wall so that there is little danger of striking the front wall. The lower edge of the guard strip preferably is coated or has applied to it a coloration corresponding to that bounding the open mouth to complete the target ring about the open mouth. V

i It should be understood that the present disclosure is for the purpose of illustration only and that this invention includes all modifications and equivalents which fall gate coin slot, long enough to pass the largest coin expected ,to be deposited, and only wide enough to pass one coin at a time, said converging walls constituting a large open catch pocket, the dimensions of which are great in proportion to the dimension of coins to be tossed into it, into which coins may be tossed from a somewhat distant moving vehicle without danger of loss of the coins by reboundor failure to catch the coins, said rim definitively outlining the mouth of the hopper to aid in pocketing the coins, the converging surfaces of the end and back walls being inwardly convex and the front wall being flat and proportioned to dampen rebound, the coin slot underlying the forwardly con-vex portion of the rear wall to minimize hanging, an upwardly inclined extension along the'rim at the top of the front wall containing a groove at its inner side, lengthwise thereof, and an elongate guard strip of flexible self-supporting sheet material disposed with one edge in the groove and its inner surface substantially flush with and constituting a continuation of the inner surface of the front wall, means fastening said edge of the guard to' the extension and an inwardly convex lip'lengthwise of the upper edge of the guard strip.'

References Cited in the file of this patent V UNITED STATES PATENTS 

